On October 3rd and on October 11th I witnessed the presidential debates on television. For the most part the debates appeared to be a close match between the candidates Al Gore and George W. Bush but certain tactics, styles and organizational patterns gave one opponent a slight edge on the other. On October 3rd Vice President Al Gore came out with an aggressive style that is unusual to him but in my opinion proved to be affective. Gore used many hand gestures to emphasize is points. Gore also managed to vary the volume of his voice in a manner that showed concern in the areas that he felt strongly about. Gore had very affective eye contact with each questionnaire that approached him.
This proved to be helpful by giving him a more down to earth quality that many people will likely admire. This is not to say that Governor Bush was effective with many of his own speaking styles. I found that Bush used pausing very effectively when he wanted to stress certain points and opinions. Bushs volume was a little lower than Gore but it worked well helping him come of very smooth and confident. The organization of both of the candidates was perhaps less important throughout the debates besides their closing remarks. However I found Bush was more organized in answering the questions as opposed to Gore.
Gore often addressed issues he felt were more important rather than simply answering the question at hand. Overall I feel that Al Gore barely won the debate simply because he seemed to have more energy and aggressiveness that left Bush many times defending himself rather that attacking back. Gore even went so far as to use his own facial expressions to discredit Bush while he was answering a persons question. As ruthless as that may seem I feel it was effective. On October 11th I found the debate to be similar to the first one. Both candidates used many of the same styles. Gore with his hand gestures and Bush with his pausing.
The Essay on Gore – Bush Debate Results
... fair better in the traditional style of debate. So what happened? What happened was, as Bush would answer his questions Gore was squirming around and ... Bradley October 23, 2000 Gore- Bush Debate Results George W. Bush and Al Gore are the two major candidates in this November’s election. There ...
However I feel that Bush was a little more prepared this time for the aggressive attack that Gore was planning on using. Bush used his aggressiveness against him mount his own counter attack. People are sick and tired of bitterness in Washington D.C. This was directly referred to the aggressiveness Gore was attempting to use on him. This debate was decided by the closing remarks in my opinion. The real question of who was more persuasive was answered in these closing minutes.
In my opinion George W. Bush had a rather mundane closing statement thanking god and everyone who supports him. Gore on the other hand had more energy and liveliness creating a more persuasive closing remark. You aint seen nothing yet, was his last words. This was highly effective by not giving the audience a sense of closure and leaving them eager to find out what he can do. In conclusion my opinion of who won the debate does not reflect on who I thought was the better candidate.
It was just to rate the merit of there speaking and debating ability. This is not to say that I think Gore won all of the debates and this is not even a valid measurement of what other people thought. The styles and tactics used by Al Gore I found were more persuasive and gave him the upper hand in both debates that I have critiqued.
